This year's International Linear Collider Detector and Physics Workshop and the Second ILC Accelerator Workshop will take place August 14-27 in Snowmass, Colorado. (Click on image for larger version.)

Nothing less than an approaching revolution in the understanding of the most basic physical laws governing the universe will bring some 600 physicists and engineers to an intensive two-week workshop in Snowmass, Colorado, August 14-27. At the "2005 International Linear Collider Physics and Detectors Workshop and the Second ILC Accelerator Workshop," scientists from Asia, Europe and North America will collaborate on the science and technology of a proposed next-generation particle accelerator. The International Linear Collider would have the potential to address such fundamental scientific issues as the origin of mass, the nature of dark matter and dark energy, the existence of extra dimensions, and the joining of nature's disparate forces into a single unified force.

The global particle physics community has proposed to design and build a new particle accelerator, the International Linear Collider, as a means to address key unanswered questions about the universe. The proposed ILC and the Large Hadron Collider, an accelerator now under construction at CERN, the European Center for Nuclear Research, in Geneva, Switzerland, would create particle collisions at Tera-electron-volt energies, beyond the reach of today's accelerators. Working in concert with the LHC, experiments at the ILC would allow physicists to explore a region of ultrahigh energies where they expect to observe phenomena that will answer many of their most profound questions.

At Snowmass, physicists will work on issues, from the cost of civil construction to the design of accelerating structures and particle detectors, that must be resolved in order to determine whether and when the proposed ILC could become a reality.
Read More—Elizabeth Clements

CPS Teachers Learn About Prairie Plants

Standing in the Fermilab prairie, UIC graduate student Sarah O'Brien speaks to Chicago Public School teachers about her research project. (Click on image for larger version.)

At the end of July, a group of fourth-grade public school teachers from one of Chicago's most underserved neighborhoods came to Fermilab to take part in a training program developed by Chicago's Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum and the University of Illinois at Chicago. The Nature Museum has helped Chicago Public School teachers improve science education for the last 15 years. It now is expanding its program by adding university laboratories and professors to the mix.

Miquel Gonzalez-Meler, assistant professor of Biological Sciences at UIC, helped to organize the trip to Fermilab. "The idea is to motivate teachers by helping them understand current environmental problems and solutions through participation," said Gonzalez-Meler, who currently is conducting studies at Fermilab's National
Environmental Research Park to investigate the role of prairie plants in
reducing atmospheric levels of greenhouse gases. "They'll see how ecological restoration can maximize air and water quality services that natural ecosystems provide."

As part of a graduate-level course, the teachers visited the Fermilab prairie to learn about the ecosystem first hand. Fermilab docents Mary Jo Murphy and Susan Sheehan taught the teachers a hands-on unit on monitoring the diversity of plants in a specified area. The teachers can repeat the unit with their students, going to a grassy area, a park, or returning to the Fermilab prairie.

On August 3, Chicago Public Radio reported on the Fermilab outing in its program 848. The 13-minute audio report is available online (RealPlayer required).
—Kurt Riesselmann

From The Daily Herald, August 8, 2005Fermilab's new director focused on future course
By Rupa Shenoy

In his first public event, Fermilab's new director, Pier Oddone, answered questions on Sunday about the lab's future.

Oddone, who took office July 1, spoke to about 100 people at the monthly Ask-a-Scientist program at the Batavia facility. Oddone, who was born in Peru, came to the lab in part to oversee the changes it will have to go through in the next decade.
Read More

Working Together

In order to address how we organize ourselves to exploit the Tevatron program through 2009, I have established a task force with members from the CDF and DZero collaborations and from the laboratory's Particle Physics and Computing Divisions. Joel Butler of PPD will chair the task force.

Pier Oddone

Running these major detectors in an era of transition to the LHC will require careful planning. A recent HEPAP survey led by Chip Brock has highlighted the erosion that we expect in CDF and DZero as physicists ramp up their involvement in LHC. Not only will the collaborations need to find new efficiencies, but the laboratory needs to find ways to support them effectively through Run II. We at the lab have the greatest responsibility and in some way the easiest task, as we live on this site and can more readily split efforts among projects than can our university colleagues.

I am confident that the task force will propose recommendations and actions that will demonstrate our commitment to seeing Run II through to its full potential. I have already heard many ideas and have suggested a few myself on what steps might be taken to address this issue. I am also confident that the funding agencies, both domestic and international, as well as the CMS and ATLAS collaborations will contribute to find an optimal solution. If all parties roll up their sleeves and contribute to this effort the solution will be far easier than if the burden falls entirely on a single entity. Ask not what the other party can do for you but what YOU can do to make sure we have a party to celebrate reaching 8 fb-1 and the discovery of something big!

August 5 - August 8
- During this 72 hour period operations established two stores that combined with an existing store provided approximately 66 hours and 46 minutes of luminosity to the experiments
- Massive Booster RF problems

Yesterday's article "LPC Will Hold Workshop to Discuss First Years of LHC" misstated the workshop's date. The LPC Workshop will occur on Thursday, August 11. Fermilab Today
regrets the error.

Weight Watchers at Work Program
Lose weight while you work! Join us for a free Open House Meeting at noon on Tuesday, August 9, 2005 in WH 15 NW. For more information please contact Bernie Dugan, x3591.

Power Outages
There will be no power in the High Intensity Lab (HIL) and the TV Group on Wednesday, August 10, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The power will also be out at Site 50, 52 (Site 52 has a generator), PAB, and the Proton Pole Building on Saturday, August 13, from 7 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Wilson Hall Interior Window Washing
The cleaning crew will wash the interior windows on the 12th and 13th floors of Wilson Hall today. Please remove any papers that are taped to the windows in your office. Please move any papers or other items on your desk that are near the windows. Contact Enixe Castro (x2798) with questions.

Fermi Singers Perform
The Fermi Singers will be performing at Noon on August 14 at the "Art in Your Eye" event in Batavia. More Information

Air Pollution Action Day
Today's conditions are favorable for unhealthy ozone and particulate matter levels. Residents of the Chicago metropolitan area are asked to curb vehicle use, postpone activities that use gasoline powered equipment, conserve energy, and avoid burning wood or yard waste.

Tour of Victorian Mansion
Join NALWO on August 10 for a private tour of Ellwood House, an 1879 Victorian mansion in DeKalb, IL, built by millionaire and barbed wire manufacturer Isaac L. Ellwood. Admission is $5.50 per adult; $1.00 per child 14-under. Please bring a picnic lunch and beverage. Carpools will be arranged to leave from the Lederman Science Center at 9:30 a.m., and the tour is schduled for 10:30 a.m. The group will return to the Lederman Science Center by 2:00 p.m. To register or for further information, please contact: Cynthia Albright (630)232-7476, or Rose Moore (630)208-9309.

SciTech Exhibit
The SciTech Museum in downtown Aurora presents the traveling exhibit, "Masters of the Night: The True Story of the Bats." Learn more about these flying mammals and the hundreds of species that exist. The exhibit runs through September 11. Admission is $7 and includes the Outdoor Science Park. To obtain a $1-off coupon, visit www.scitech.museum.